[TenTec] A new T-T for the rest of us

[Bill Tippett]

W2KJ wrote:

 >...Now if Ten Tec could build a transceiver with a single Orion 
receiver  and
dual VFO's for $2500 I bet it would be a great seller.

         I completely agree.  It should be very popular
with serious contesters who do SO2R.  I am told by
someone at Ten-Tec that the reason Omni VI did not
do better was the lack of Dual Receive, but a well
implemented rig with a single receiver should do
well IMHO.  As an example of the latter, I would
cite the Kenwood TS-930S which had a very convenient
T-F button for switching the RX to your Transmit
frequency when trying to zero-beat stations working
DX in Split pileups.

         Which of the following would you rather have:

1.  A dual RX rig with one good receiver for $4000.
2.  A single RX rig with one good RX for $2500.
3.  Two single RX rigs, both with good RX's for $5000
(i.e. two each #1 above).

The answer probably depends on how you operate, but
I agree that there is a huge hole in the market for
a good single RX rig in the $2500 area.  Elecraft
has the closest current offering which costs about
$1500 for the kit components plus >40 hours of your
time to build.  Based on Elecraft's sales over the
past year or so, they are selling ~60 units per month
of the K2 (of course not all are fully loaded with
options).

         I also wonder if it might not be possible to
add a Dual RX option, using the display and control
in the Main rig, but using an external "RF front-end"
receiver for less than an incremental $2500.  It
might also be that this external box could be used
as a front-end for a computer, since the control
functions might all be via a standard interface
anyway.

         Something for our friends at TT to consider!

                                         73,  Bill  W4ZV